NJ’s ‘tanning mom’ won’t face endangerment charge
FILE - In this May 2, 2012 file photo, Patricia Krentcil, 44, waits to be arraigned at the Essex County Superior Court in Newark, N.J., where she appeared on charges of endangering her 5-year-old child by taking her into a tanning salon. A grand jury in New Jersey has decided to let Krentcil a woman who gained overnight notoriety as "the tanning mom" bronze away in peace. Prosecutors in Newark said Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 a grand jury refused to indict Patricia Krentcil on a charge she took her young daughter into a tanning booth with her. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
NEWARK, N.J. >> A New Jersey grand jury has refused to indict a woman known widely as the “tanning mom” after being accused of endangering her child by allegedly bringing her into a tanning booth.
Prosecutors in Newark said Tuesday the decision means 44-year-old Patricia Krentcil of Nutley will no longer face a child endangerment charge.
Krentcil was arrested last April for allegedly violating a state law banning children under 14 from using tanning salons. Police became involved after school officials noticed burns on Krentcil’s then-5-year-old daughter’s legs.
Krentcil said her daughter’s burns came from the sun. She said she never would take her daughter into a tanning booth.
The arrest generated wide publicity partly because of Krentcil’s deep tan and professed love of tanning salons.
Prosecutors say the case is now over.
